When people ask me what I've got going on on any date that isn't today, I usually tell them, "I've got to check with my personal assistant, err, I mean, my wife." Not that she's taking dictations or running to get me coffee every 10 minutes or anything. It's just that my wife is a very structured and organized person and at any given time has the schedule down pat for the next two weeks in her head. (At least, when I remember to tell her what I'm signed up to do, but that's a story for another time...)
Yesterday was Strawberry Fest in Cottage Grove. (While we're on the topic of story's for another time, Cottage Grove neither has an abundance of strawberries, nor would they be in season if they were grown here.) It's kind of like a county fair on a very miniature scale, with a midway and junk food and locals hawking their wares. On Friday, I had some sort of vague recollection that Alesha and I were doing something at the festival. But up until that night, I thought we were manning a booth with the Alley (our church). That's when Alesha informed me that we'd have to be at Crossroad's church for the parade at 8:00 the next morning.
Of course, I disguised my confusion my making jokes about being irritated that I had to get up early the next morning. I asked who was going to be in the parade with us, and Alesha stars rattling off names I'm pretty sure don't go to our church. After a bit of confusion, I figured out that we were going to be in the Strawberry Fest parade with Relay for Life. Of course at that point, I then remembered her explaining this whole thing to me several times.
After getting to the parade early and setting up our float, Alesha and I decided we were going to carry or RFL banner in front of the truck. Now my wife and I are two old-time band nerds, but I never realized (or maybe I wasn't listening when she told me) that Alesha actually carried the banner for a time in parades for her band. I decided it was better for me to do that than to actually run around handing out educational material along the route.
We were #21 in the parade, which ironically enough was right behind the marching band. As we were lining up for the route I gave a shout-out to the clarinet section, which elicited more than one smile.
Have you ever had a moment that's not really laugh-out-loud funny, but it still makes you grin when you think about it later? As we started to follow the band through the route, both Alesha and I realized that we were marching to the beat of the drummers ahead of us. Left foot down on odd beats, right foot down on evens. We both realized that we were truly band nerds and laughed at each other. But what was even funnier was that throughout the entire parade route, I kept noticing that I was still on the beat, and I would look over at Alesha and she would be too. We couldn't not march to the beat!
Marching band: it isn't just a high school pastime, it's a way of life!
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